Volume 1: When Heroes Come and Go, People Pay Attention. Chapter 206: Guardiola’s Ambition (First Update, Please Vote for Me)

Chapter 206: Guardiola’s Ambition (First update, please vote for me)

In fact, what gives Guardiola a headache reflects more than just Chen Yingxiong's strength.

Messi is no longer an unsolvable problem, and Chen Yingxiong has become an unsolvable bug.

What has changed at the same time is that the original invincible team Barcelona is no longer so scary. They were suppressed by Real Madrid domestically, and they have not received honors in the European arena for a long time. They reached the Champions League final last season, but were defeated by Bayern Munich's wretched tactics. After the game, the extremely disappointed Barcelona players even said that Bayern Munich did not deserve to win the championship because their playing style was a step backwards in football. Many other neutral fans responded with boos, mocking them for not being able to afford to lose.

Barcelona's status is no longer as crazy as it once was. People no longer look up to them or fear them, so they get into more trouble. This snowballed into a vicious cycle.

Part of the reason why Barcelona was able to sweep the world and conquer the world in the past was that many teams were afraid of them. They felt scared just hearing their names, let alone fighting them and defeating them.

Some teams are even busy chasing stars without any intention of competing with Barcelona on a high ground.

Leverkusen will have a say in this.

When the two teams met in the Champions League knockout rounds, Leverkusen's players were not thinking about how to defeat Barcelona - which is normal, because the strength gap between the two sides is really too big. But abnormally, everyone is thinking in advance about how to exchange jerseys with Messi after the game. The whole team is rushing to exchange jerseys with Messi. What is the difference between this behavior and fanatical star-chasers?

Can their behavior still be called professional players?

If there is no direct competitive relationship between the two teams and they are not two sides in the match, then the Leverkusen players only have personal freedom. They have the freedom to chase stars, and players can also have idols.

But in such an important game as the Champions League quarter-finals, is it really appropriate for a player from the opposing team to show off his star-chasing qualities in such a big way?

Later, the Leverkusen club also realized the negative consequences of the players' actions. They seriously damaged the image of the Leverkusen club. For this reason, they simply bought more than 20 sets of Messi's Barcelona clothes before the second round. Jerseys, and then each person is given one to prevent them from fighting among themselves over Messi's jersey.

However, this does not reduce the impact of this kind of star-chasing on the team's combat effectiveness.

In the end, Leverkusen was beaten by Barcelona in the away game with seven goals. The score of 7:1 permanently nailed Leverkusen to the pillar of shame.

Messi showed his prowess in that game and scored five goals.

It can be regarded as satisfying the fans, but I don’t know how the Leverkusen players felt about having five holes poked in their idol’s body...

This game is a typical example of how powerful Barcelona was at the height of its power. It has become so powerful that it can defeat others without fighting.

Precisely because of their prestige, many teams have already surrendered as soon as they heard that they were going to play against Barcelona, ​​allowing them to win these inconsequential games without any blood and focus on the most important games.

But this kind of treatment no longer exists.

Today's Barcelona is no longer the team that everyone is afraid of. Many teams dare to fight with them. In some games, they must pay double the effort and price to win.

Guardiola felt a bit like he was being insulted.

Especially in the European arena, since he took advantage of Chen Yingxiong's transfer to Liverpool and was unable to participate in the Champions League, he defeated Real Madrid and won the last Champions League championship for Barcelona. Barcelona has never won the Champions League again. .

In the 2012-2013 season, Barcelona, ​​as the defending champion, did not enter the finals at all. That season was also Barcelona's worst season. In the domestic arena and the Champions League, it was completely suppressed by Real Madrid. His assistant coach Vilanova proved that he can only be a qualified assistant coach, but cannot become an excellent head coach.

So Cruyff personally came forward to implore Guardiola, who was resting and recharging at home, to come back.

In fact, Barcelona's performance was not as bad as everyone thought, especially after Guardiola returned to the team and led Barcelona to the Champions League final in his first season. Unfortunately, they failed to win the Champions League final. The defensive Bayern Munich had no choice but to be dragged into a penalty shootout, and then lost to Bayern Munich in a penalty kick.

After that game, many Barcelona people were unconvinced and believed that the championship should belong to Barcelona, ​​which performed better, because Barcelona was much higher than Bayern Munich in terms of time of possession, number of shots, shots within the goal frame, and number of passes. , why did the weak win the championship in the end?

Guardiola ignored these disturbances. He was very sorry to lose this final, but this final also gave him confidence.

He originally thought that when he came back, he would be faced with a mess that would be very troublesome to clean up.

Unexpectedly, in the first season, Barcelona seemed to have taken stimulants collectively and reached the Champions League final... He had a bold idea in his mind, which was to make Barcelona rise again in Europe and regain its dominance. .

He wants those people to tremble when they hear the name Barcelona again.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t win the championship in the first season, you must win it in the second season!

He even gave up La Liga for this reason. Because no matter how many La Liga titles you win, it still gives people the feeling that the structure is too small. After all, no matter how miserable Barcelona is now, it is not difficult to dominate La Liga. The 20-team La Liga is still divided into the two-team La Liga and the 18-team La Liga.

Therefore, it is necessary to regain the La Liga championship, but there is no need to rush. It is the Champions League championship that best illustrates the problem and has a blockbuster effect.

Only by regaining such an important championship can we announce to the whole of Europe and the whole world that the invincible Barcelona team back then is back!

Therefore, he attaches great importance to this Champions League final, even more than last season...

He hopes to win this championship to prove Barcelona's rise.

It’s just that it’s useless for him to value it, because Barcelona’s opponent in this season’s Champions League final is Liverpool. If it were just Liverpool, that would be fine. Guardiola wouldn't be afraid of Liverpool, but the problem is that Liverpool has Chen Yingxiong!

If Barcelona wants to rise again, it must overcome the hurdle of Liverpool.

Is this God's test for Barcelona?

It really makes some sense... If Barcelona can defeat Liverpool with Chen Yingxiong, is there any team in the world that can stop Barcelona's re-emergence?

No!

※ ※ ※

Guardiola studied the video of the match between Chen Yingxiong and Liverpool day and night, hoping to find clues in it. This life began from the day the final opponent was determined.

During these days, Guardiola was like an ascetic. A person who was originally very trendy and fashionable, and who paid attention to his image, turned out to be unkempt. He also lost weight, with sunken eye sockets and a withered face.

He devoted all his energy to studying Chen Yingxiong.

As a result, he had not figured out how to deal with Chen Yingxiong until the day before the game.

However, this will not hinder Barcelona's preparation training. Because Barcelona's training is not targeted at the Liverpool team, in offense, they only need to play Barcelona's football to defeat their opponents.

The problem is defense, which is Guardiola's biggest headache.

There is nothing to fear from other Liverpool players, but how to guard against Chen Yingxiong?

Guardiola never had an answer.

Seeing that the game was about to start, he still couldn't think of a way. In the end, I just decided to go all out - I'm going to fight Liverpool!

Yes, fight!

Since there is no way to fight for defense, it is better to fight for offense.

Facts have proved that holding on is useless against Liverpool. Only Arsenal has succeeded in holding on and no other team has succeeded. Especially Newcastle United, the poor Magpies, they replaced all offensive players and replaced all defensive players. All players retreated to the 30-meter area, but Chen Yingxiong still scored five goals...

Anyway, defense is not Barcelona's strength, offense is, so why should we exploit our weaknesses and avoid our strengths?

Liverpool's offense is very sharp, but our Barcelona offense is not weak either.

You have Chen Yingxiong, we have Messi!

No one is worse than anyone else.

After turning his mind around, Guardiola's ideas suddenly became clear and he was asked to attack how he wanted. This is what he is best at.

Give full play to Barcelona's characteristics, firmly control the football at their feet, use their tacit passing and running cooperation to tear apart Liverpool's defense, and then rely on Messi's personal skills to break into the penalty area and score.

As long as your team can firmly control the football at your feet, you can offset Liverpool's offensive threat.

After all, football is the safest under your feet.

This is the creed of Barcelona football.

If you can't control the football, you can't control the game.

If you can't control the game, you can't win the game.

Guardiola figured this out and suddenly no longer struggled with how to deal with Chen Yingxiong.

I feel a lot more relaxed too.

Tonight, he could finally have a good sleep.

For Guardiola, this is not easy.

This is the first time in the past half month that he has been able to sleep peacefully. This is very important, because tomorrow's game will not be easy. He needs to get enough sleep, regain energy, and use a clear mind to deal with this game. (To be continued.